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Minotaur
The Minotaur is an enemy in the Castlevania series. It is a common werebeast (a werebull) found in later Castlevania games. He is usually armed with a battle axe (first seen in Rondo of Blood) or with a giant pillar (Bloodlines). He is occasionally paired up with another fellow werebeast: the Werewolf. Origins In Greek mythology, the Minotaur was a creature with the head of a bull on the body of a man. He dwelt at the center of the Labyrinth, which was an elaborate maze-like construction designed by the architect Daedalus and his son Icarus, on the command of King Minos of Crete. The Minotaur was eventually killed by the Athenian hero Theseus. The term Minotaur derives from the Ancient Greek Μῑνώταυρος, a compound of the name Μίνως (Minos) and the noun ταύρος "bull", translated as "(the) Bull of Minos". After he ascended the throne of the island of Crete, Minos prayed to Poseidon to send him a snow-white bull as a sign of support. He was to kill the bull to show honor to the deity, but decided to keep it instead because of its beauty. He thought Poseidon would not care if he kept the white bull and sacrificed one of his own. To punish Minos, Poseidon made Pasiphaë, Minos' wife, fall deeply in love with the bull. Pasiphaë had craftsman Daedalus make a hollow wooden cow, and climbed inside it in order to mate with the white bull. The offspring was the monstrous Minotaur. Pasiphaë nursed him, but he grew and became ferocious, being the unnatural offspring of a woman and a beast. He had no natural source of nourishment and thus devoured men for sustenance. Minos had Daedalus construct a gigantic labyrinth to hold the Minotaur. Athens was compelled by the cruel plague to pay penalties for the killing of Androgeos, Minos' son. Aegeus, king of Athens, had to avert the plague caused by his crime by sending young men at the same time as the best of unwed girls as a feast for the Minotaur. Minos required that seven Athenian youths and seven maidens, drawn by lots, be sent every seventh or ninth year to be devoured by the Minotaur. When the third sacrifice approached, Theseus volunteered to slay the monster. In Crete, Minos' daughter, Ariadne, fell madly in love with him and helped him navigate the labyrinth. In most accounts, she gave him a ball of thread, allowing him to retrace his path. Theseus killed the Minotaur with the sword of Aegeus and led the other Athenians back out of the labyrinth. Appearances ''Castlevania: Rondo of Blood First appearance of the Minotaur in the series. He is the standard boss of Stage 3 and Stage 3'. Defeating him in any of these two locations will move the player to Stage 4. ;Attacks *Performs a quick stab with his battle axe. *Jumps high in the air and swings his axe downward in an overhead motion. This attack covers more than half of the room's size. *Spews a substance that will momentarily petrify the player on contact. *Rips off several slabs from the floor and tosses them at the player. *Performs a bull charge that can be difficult to dodge due to his large size. The player can move under him when he uses his jumping attack or perform a backflip over him when he uses his charging attack. At the end of the latter, the beast will embed his head into the wall and momentarily get stuck there, giving the player an opportunity to score some free hits. Once the Minotaur's health has been depleted, he'll perform one final strike by charging at the player in a last ditch jumping uppercut attack, spontaneously combusting while at the top of the jump, with his flesh quickly being consumed by the flames and his now exposed skeleton slowly crumbling to the ground. Castlevania: Bloodlines In this game, Minotaurs appear frequently throughout the Atlantis Shrine. In this stage, the player will find Minotaurs wielding swords, naginatas, or charging about. A few Minotaurs appear in the Leaning Tower of Pisa as well, where some of them can break and grab a hold of marble columns from the scenery and swing them around. Strangely, whenever the player kills them, the sound they make is the same as when killing a Skele-Dragon. Castlevania: Dracula X The Minotaur appears as the boss of Stage 4, the Dungeon. Although not shown in the game, it is implied that he was being held prisoner in this stage due to the broken bars of a cell seen in the background of the boss room. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night The Minotaur is a large beast summoned by a possessed Richter Belmont in the Colosseum, and he comes teamed with the Werewolf, impaling and slashing with his battle axe at the player, dealing heavy damage if not careful. Eventually, the Minotaur will ram from one corner of the room to the other, while the Werewolf dashes in the opposite direction. In the Reverse Colosseum, Minotaurs reappear as regular enemies, using the same battle tactics and accompanied by more Werewolves. They are leveled-up versions of the one faced before, although they're not as difficult to defeat as the player will also have a leveled-up character and come armed with better weaponry. If the player attacks them repeatedly, they'll be locked on the attack until they're destroyed. Furthermore, they're considered as werebeasts, so the Were Bane is extra effective against them. Castlevania Legends Called the '''Jumping Demon' in this game. It has a human abdomen with a bull head and lower body, and his legs, butt and mane are covered in blue fur. ''Castlevania: Circle of the Moon In ''Circle of the Moon, Minotaurs use a battle axe to create shockwaves that travel forward, hitting the player with great force. There's a room with seven of them in the Battle Arena, which is notorious for its high difficulty. ''Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance In ''Harmony of Dissonance, there are two Minotaur bosses: #The Minotaur wields a traditional battle axe. Upon defeat, Juste will have access to a room where he can claim the Wind Book to infuse his sub-weapons with the power of Wind magic. #The Minotaur Lv2 is a bit different, as he uses a ball and chain. This form is harder to defeat, as the movements of his weapon are harder to predict. The Axe sub-weapon, infused with the magic from the Fire Book (which summons a Hydra), can be very helpful in this battle, as the player can keep their distance while the Minotaur receives heavy and constant damage, and the spell has a chance of knocking him back to the other side of the room. Upon defeat, Juste will have access to a room where he'll find the Steel Tip whip enhancement. ''Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow There are two versions of Minotaurs in ''Aria of Sorrow: #'Minotaur': They are large creatures with brown fur and long horns. They can be found in the Study and in the Dance Hall. Its soul is valuable, as it can be obtained relatively early in the game and grants Soma the Fighter's Power ability, which provides a Strength boost of +8. #'Red Minotaur': They are similar to the Minotaur, but their fur is red. These can be found in The Arena, Top Floor and Chaotic Realm (summoned by Stolas). His soul is one of the best bullet souls in the game, as it grants the Mega Twister ability, where Soma swings an oversized battle axe which covers most of the screen, dealing massive damage. If aimed properly, enemies can be hit twice by this attack. The room with the two Red Minotaurs in the Arena will allow the player to level up very quickly, as each will provide 1,000 EXP points per kill. They can be killed with a single swipe of the Killer Mantle's soul, Astral Veil, and each one is positioned near one of the room's entrances, so the player can keep entering to kill as many as needed. If the player has also acquired the Black Panther's soul, the Sherman Ring and the Erinys' soul, they'll be able to level up much faster (around level 55~60). ''Castlevania: Lament of Innocence The Minotaur makes a cameo appearance in ''Lament of Innocence, although only in statue form. In a couple of rooms of the Ghostly Theatre, Leon will find himself trapped while a series of boulders are launched at him from the ceiling. These rooms have many statues of minotaurs scattered about. Leon must lure the boulders to be launched at these statues in order to destroy them. When all statues have been destroyed, the magical seals blocking the doors will vanish. The second room has two different colored sets of minotaur statues: red and white. Managing to destroy all statues of a same color will open a specific door in the room (the white ones being considerably more difficult to destroy). ''Castlevania: Curse of Darkness The Minotaurus in ''Curse of Darkness is a gigantic werebeast carrying a large pillar which he uses as a massive weapon. Unlike his predecessors, he has a wound on his back that reveals his dorsal spine (it doesn't count as a weak point and he won't take additional damage by being hit on it) and he also appears to be undead. His attacks can be hard to avoid and he will often throw the pillars at the player, turning around looking for another one to tear out and continue the battle. ;Attacks *Smashes the pillar to the ground. This breaks one third of the pillar apart, so if he uses this attack for a third time with the same pillar, it will be completely destroyed and he'll have to find another one. *Performs one or two consecutive swipes with the pillar. *Hurls the pillar at the player. *Uses the pillar as counterbalance and starts spinning along the arena for a considerable time. *Performs a high jump and generates shockwaves as he lands (opens his stealing window during this attack). The Devil Iron material can be stolen from him while he's performing his special attack: a jump which generates shockwaves. It's one of the hardest materials to obtain in the game and the Minotaurus will only start performing this move once he has less than half of his health remaining. If the arena runs out of pillars, the Minotaurus will keep hold of the last one and never throw it at the player. At this point, he will also perform his special attack more frequently, giving the player a higher chance to steal from him. Once defeated, the Minotaurus' body will suddenly turn to stone, fall and break apart in pieces as it hits the ground. ''Castlevania Judgment His portrayal in ''Judgment is similar to his appearance in Curse of Darkness. He appears in a "Boss Battle" in both Story and Castle Modes. He's much harder to defeat than the Iron Gladiator, the other powerhouse of the game. He only does one of two attacks: *Swinging his giant pillar in a wide, horizontal way. Run to his left to easily avoid this attack. *Pounding the floor. This attack has a long, straight line range. Move to the side or dodge to avoid. A difference from his Curse of Darkness incarnation is that he never throws the pillar he holds, as there are no others to grab. Other appearances ''Castlevania'' (animated series) The Minotaur makes an appearance in the sixth episode of the second season of the animated series, "The River". In this version, the creature has the ability to grow in size (its horns and eyes turn blue in the process). In comparison, a human ends up being just about half the size of its arms. Trevor kills it by slitting its neck and slicing one of its legs, which causes a notoriously large gush of blood to come out from its injuries. Enemy Data Item Data Gallery Trivia *In the trailer for Castlevania Judgment, unveiled at the Tokyo Game Show of 2008, a Minotaur was seen fighting Simon Belmont. There was some speculation about the Minotaur being a playable character. However, Konami said that the Minotaur had been confirmed to be a boss character for Story Mode. *His name is occasionally spelled "Minotaurus", meaning "Bull of Minos" (sometimes mistranslated). *The Minotaur's flying uppercut resembles the Shoryuken, a special move mainly used by Ryu and Ken from the Street Fighter franchise. See also *Were Bane *Werebeast *Werewolf References Category:Greek Monsters Category:Arcade Bosses Category:Aria of Sorrow Enemies Category:Bloodlines Enemies Category:Castlevania 64 Bosses Category:Circle of the Moon Enemies Category:Curse of Darkness Bosses Category:Dracula X Bosses Category:Dracula X Chronicles Bosses Category:Dracula X Chronicles Enemies Category:Grimoire of Souls Enemies Category:Harmony of Despair Enemies Category:Harmony of Dissonance Bosses Category:Judgment Enemies Category:Legacy of Darkness Enemies Category:Legends Bosses Category:Pachinko Characters Category:Portrait of Ruin Enemies Category:Rondo of Blood Bosses Category:Symphony of the Night Bosses Category:Symphony of the Night Enemies Category:Animal-Type Enemies